Posts filed under ‘Other’
On Leadership
I started in a leadership education program yesterday that is to go on for the next one and a half years. After a hard start of the week (especially Monday when I left my work keys home and was stressed and overwhelmed by too many work tasks) it was inspiring to get to meet new people and to just sit and learn about important things.
There’s been a shift in the leadership theories during the years and the focus in leading is more and more in the communication and interaction skills. The leader does not answer questions but asks them. Coaching leadership has replaced the old-fashioned stiff authority-based commanding. In everyday work, imagination, creativity and passion are necessary to truly create added value, as Gary Hamel states in his book Leading the Revolution.
Sounds like it’s finally time to grab out the real potential in everyone of us and cherish our individual strengths to enable healthier, happier and yet in the same time more productive work communities. It’s no longer a threat to not know everything yourself when you can rely on experts in you team. Like the actors say: helping other people shine at the stage makes yourself shine brighter. Comforting for a leader pretty green in her field. 😉
Starting a blog
I am a 31 year old Occupational Therapist living in Helsinki, Finland. I’ve decided to start keeping a blog to facilitate discussion around and about occupational therapy, nutrition and overall health and well-being. I’m interested in on-going research in the field of OT as well as nutrition.
I graduated as an OT 2007 so I’m still pretty green. Nevertheless, highly motivated and eager to come up with new kinds of solutions in fighting different problems of everyday activities caused by neurological, mental, and other diseases. I work on the acute hospital wards in Helsinki and also as the head of our OT unit. My work consists mainly of assessments on the ward as well as at clients’ homes.
My interest with nutrition has roots in my active sports history (still on-going). I’ve been gathering a lot of information regarding supporting optimal (physical) performance by eating well. Recently I’ve read more and more alarmingly interesting news about nutrition’s significance when it come to treating, or better yet preventing, illnesses such as Alzheimer’s, vascular diseases, heart and coronary diseases and other neurological and inflammation illnesses.
I’m confident that there are multiple undiscovered ways of promoting health and well-being, preventing illnesses and treating the symptoms by the means of a holistic understanding of a human body and mind. I believe the dichotomy between mental and somatic illnesses is old-fashioned and should soon be undone. I think the keys in solving a human puzzle lie in nutrition, sleep, being part of a community and looking at people as we do in occupational therapy: as the experts of their own lives.
I hope that I’ll find people interested in sharing their thoughts and views regarding these issues so that we can together create something spectacular. At least from an individual’s point of view. Mine, if no one else’s 😀 So welcome, please, have a seat!
Meri
If you’re unfamiliar with occupational therapy, have a look at the Wikipedia article regarding OT.
Meri Pekkanen: Occupational therapy, nutrition and other hot health stuff 
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